Manifesto

Manifesto (draft)

I

The human being is a technological animal. Technology is not neutral. Technology is not just applied science but the enlargement of our senses and our emotional and cognitive capacities. As such we commit to take care in our decisions regarding technology.

II

Our decisions and actions always have consequences in the short, medium and long term. Our choices when building and using technologies will affect our lives and the lives of other people interacting with those technologies. This is particularly true as digital technologies can escalate at a much higher rate than traditional, mechanical ones.

III

We support human rights as stated, among other texts, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Every person is entitled to defend those rights. We believe that every person is also responsible to respect the human rights of others and specifically we, as decision makers in technology, are obliged to think on how to sustain those human rights in our products and services.

IV

We are social and cultural beings. Our thinking and willpower has been shaped by our communities. As such we commit ourselves to take care of the communities with which we interact, especially in regard to our profession. Our lines of code, documentation, concepts, specifications, planned steps, images, oral and written words not only affect the building of technological products but are communicative acts per se in regard to all people. We commit to make all those processes understandable and readable not just for machines and systems but for our colleagues as far as possible.

V

We believe that every person has the right to protect the data and information regarding their own being and actions. The knowledge and use of that personal data by any other person or organisation should be determined in democratic and open processes made in the interest of the whole society and in consideration of the right to privacy.

VI

Dialogue, understanding and rational discussions, in an atmosphere of respect, in all our communications — in person, online and via physical or digital mediums — will help us arrive at better standards, including more people in their diversity and taking care of individual needs with an emphasis on accessibility.

VII

We believe that all humans can live together in harmony, respect and dignity on this planet. We believe technologies can help us to achieve this main goal and we commit to work together towards the realisation of that aim in our workplace, our products and services, our talks and public presentations, and in general in all interactions.

We want Isle of Ruby to be a model for our society, a time and place where those ideals are applied.

VIII

We are concerned by topics which are widely discussed at the moment in relation to technological and digital advances — especially in relation to information and communication technologies — such as: ethics of AI, machine learning, filter bubbles / echo-chambers, tracking, automatisation and effects on jobs, data protection, big data, etc.

We will discuss these subjects, search actively for the best solutions to the present problems and diffuse and put into practice the fruits of our dialogue.